New Delhi, Nov 21: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met Union Minister for Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday at her office in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum seeking to correct the lower allocation of short-term loans to the state by NABARD. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stated that Karnataka is making a lower allocation of ‘Short Term Agricultural Credit Limit (ST-SAO)’ at concessional rate of interest by the National Bank For Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for the seasonal agricultural operation for the year 2024-25.
“We wish to bring to your notice that the Government of Karnataka has set a target of disbursing Short Term Agricultural Loans of Rs 25,000 crore to 35 lakh farmers for the year 2024-25. Through the Short-Term Co-Operative Credit structure during the year 2023-24 Short Term Agricultural Loans of Rs 22,902 crore have been disbursed in the state of Karnataka,” CM Siddaramaiah stated.
The Karnataka State Co-Operative Apex Bank Limited has requested and sent a proposal to NABARD to sanction SAO limit of Rs 9,162 crore for the year 2024-25 on behalf of Short-Term Co-Operative Credit Structure. For the year 2023-24, NABARD has sanctioned SAO concessional limit of Rs 5,600 crore. For the year 2024-25, as against the applied limit of Rs 9,162 crore, NABARD has sanctioned SAO concessional agricultural loan limit of only Rs 2,340 crore which is 58 per cent less compared to last year, he pointed out.
“NABARD has told us that the reason for the reduced limit this year is because the RBI has allocated less under the General Line of Credit,” he stated. CM Siddaramaiah further stated that Karnataka has received very good monsoon rains and the farmers are demanding to enhance the disbursement of SAO loans for their agricultural co-operations.
The major reduction in sanctioning SAO loan limit to Karnataka will drastically hamper the disbursement of Short-Term Agricultural Co-operation loans in Karnataka for the year 2024-25. In view of above facts, please direct NABARD and RBI to enhance Short Term Agricultural Loans limit for the year 2024-25 in the interest of farmers and to ensure normal food grain production in Karnataka, CM Siddaramaiah urged FM Sitharaman.
